


Skin Echoes What The Heart Desires

by Guardian



Category: Deadpool (Movieverse), Deadpool - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Biphobia, Childhood Memories, F/M, False Memories, Hopeful Ending, I consider them major I don't care, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Loneliness, Love, M/M, Mentions of Cancer, Multi, Non-Graphic Violence, Or maybe more accurately polyphobia but that isn't a tag, Peter dies, Polyamory, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Unrequited Love, Vanessa dies, Wade is pansexual and polyamorous, baby don't hurt me, we're working through some shit ok, what is love?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-27
Updated: 2018-08-27
Packaged: 2019-07-03 10:12:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15816801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Guardian/pseuds/Guardian
Summary: "It's only skin, Wade," Vanessa told him, over and over again, until Wade almost felt like he could believe it."Soulmates don't go away. They're part of you."





	Skin Echoes What The Heart Desires

 

\-----  
\---  
-  


Wade's mother was the first person to explain to him what a soulmate was.

The memory still lingered in his mind. Hazy, dreamlike, and filtered through golden sunlight, as if it had been preserved in amber. She'd had her pretty blonde hair pulled up into a messy bun to keep it out of the way while they made cookies together. Chocolate chip with extra chunks. She pretended not to notice when Wade's little fingers stole another taste of the batter out of the mixing bowl.

Her soulmate's name was on the back of her neck, just where her hairline started. Like it had been pressed there by a lover's kiss.

_John._

"That's your daddy's name, Wade," she had explained when he asked her what it meant. The cookies were in the oven, baking, and the sink was full of dishes soaking in warm suds. Her soapy-wet hand instinctively went to the mark when she spoke, tracing over it with gentle fingers. "When you're old enough, you'll get a name, too. That name will be somebody you love. Forever."

"Will it be on my neck?" Wade had asked, wondering how he'd know when it appeared if he could never see it.

" _Could_ be," she'd said with a playful smile as she wiped off her hands and then tossed the dish towel aside. Her eyes were mischievous on him, like a cat about to pounce. "Or it could show up on your elbow... or your foot... or your _tummy!_ "

Her hands were quick, fingers poking and tickling him, and then snatching him up when he tried to run away, shrieking and giggling in her grasp. She didn't let go, just hugged him tight and blew raspberry kisses against his neck until they were both breathless from laughter.

 

-

 

At school, the girls used to play games to guess what the first letter of your soulmate's name would be, how old you'd be when you finally met, and many kids you'd have together.

Sometimes the boys would reluctantly let the girls use their different methods to tell them their fortunes, as if they weren't as curious as everyone else.

Wade let the girls play those games with him a lot.

They always came up with different answers. 

K, W, A, H, T.

16, 24, 21, 30, 19.

2, 4, none, 8, none.

Some of the kids disapproved of one person having their soulmate predicted so many times, as if it could be bad luck. Others laughed and said that's how you knew fortune telling wasn't real.

Only your skin could really tell you your destiny.

To Wade, it felt like proof that the future was always changing, always in flux.

That was exciting.

 

-

 

His soulmate's name appeared on his right shoulder when he was in 7th grade.

His best friend had noticed it during gym class. Wade couldn't even remember that friend's name anymore. But he remembered what the name was.

_Alicia._

There was an Alicia in his grade, although they'd never spoken before. There was also an Alicia in the grade above him. Whenever someone got their soulmate's name, that was all anyone could talk about, even though they weren't supposed to. It was against the rules to tease other students about their soulmates, or even discuss the topic on school grounds, but that didn't stop everyone from gossiping. Kids whispered, and passed notes, and talked to each other after school when the teachers usually wouldn't bother scolding them for it. By the end of the day, it was already old news. Everyone wanted to know which girl he liked better, which Alicia was _his_.

Both of them were pretty. And smart. And sweet. 

And neither of them wanted anything to do with him. 

One was too shy, the other annoyed to be paired off with someone younger than her. But he got crushes on them both anyway.

When their soulmate marks appeared, it wasn't his name written on their skin.

Wade's friends had consoled him, reassured him that there were other girls with that name, he just hadn't met them yet.

But he didn't feel heartbroken about it.

Maybe his friends were right, but he still liked both Alicias as much as he had before.

It didn't matter so much if they didn't like him back.

 

-

 

A month later, a second name appeared on his skin. It was noticed by the girl sitting behind him in math class. The teacher lost control of the room instantly.

Students were grabbing his arm, trying to see the name written on his wrist, demanding to know how he'd gotten a second one, if the first had disappeared, how anyone could have two soulmates, and did that mean the first was wrong? Did that mean theirs could be wrong?

His teacher had been furious at him and sent Wade to the bathroom to go wash it off. He'd scrubbed at his skin for an hour, equally confused about why this was happening, and why it wouldn't come off.

He really liked Alicia. Either of them. Both of them. Even if they weren't _his_ Alicia, he still liked that mark on his skin. It was proof that there was somebody out there for him to love. Forever. He'd gotten used to how pretty that name sounded in his head, or how it felt rolling off his tongue when he whispered it to himself at night, trying to imagine her face.

But now there was another name on him.

And even after he'd scrubbed his skin pink and raw, it still wouldn't budge.

_Sam._

The same teacher found him in the bathroom and sent him straight to the principal's office, ignoring the fact that his eyes were as wet and raw as his arm was.

It took awhile for the adults to realize that it was real.

Multiple names were so unheard of back then, in that little town.

His mother wouldn't look at him.

His doctor reassured them that this was normal. That it was a phase. That he was just confused. That someday, he'd meet _the one,_ and that would be that.

The kids at school had other questions.

Who was Sam? Was it Samuel or Samantha? 

Why was he so greedy?

Why couldn't he just make up his mind? 

If he had more than one name, how could he truly love either one of them?

 

-

 

More names appeared on his skin over time.

_Chris. Bea. James. Remy. Theresa. Natalia. Steve. Vanessa. Jessica. Tom._

Some of them formed together, like lists.

Others dotted over his skin like singular kisses. Like blessings. Like wounds. Like curses.

When _James_ joined his skin along with _Chris_ , he got jumped by a group of boys as soon as school let out. They hurled slurs at him as well as fists, and kicked him until his two of his ribs broke and every part of him was bruised.

 

He got expelled for being a disturbance. For being a deviant.

 

The next school wasn't any better.

 

Or the next.

 

But Wade got a lot better at fighting, until finally the assholes learned to either leave him alone or get their teeth kicked in.

He kept knives on him. And long sleeves to hide the bruises, and the cuts, and as many names as he could.

The cuts and bruises faded. The names kept appearing.

_Sebastian. Anthony. Tom. Elizabeth. Nate. Tessa. Peter. Billy. Shiklah. Clint. Thor._

Some of them were kind of weird. Some of them weren't even in any language he could recognize.

He couldn't hide them all. Rumors still spread.

He didn't have friends. His classmates avoiding even getting close to him, afraid that their name would appear on his skin if they did.

They started saying that the names weren't soulmates at all. Instead, Wade's skin showed all of the people who hated him. That's why it kept growing.

As soon as he could, Wade dropped out of school and never looked back.

 

-

 

Wade's mother was the first person to teach him what a soulmate was.

He couldn't remember ever seeing his father. Not once.

 

-

 

He joined the military.

Special Forces.

He was good at it. 

Good at the fighting.

Good at the killing.

The new rumor was that all of the names on his skin were people he was destined to murder.

Wade didn't mind that rumor so much. At least that one got him a little bit of respect. He had a few friends again, even if they were just as fucked up as he was.

When he got out, he found mercenary work that fell into line with his skills. He had a life, even if it wasn't the one he used to imagine he'd have.

He still got jumped by strangers. Drunken assholes who didn't know what a mistake they'd made. Sometimes there were enough guys to get the better of him. Bloody knuckles were a constant. The scars started becoming as permanent on his skin as the names.

Nobody would date him. Not even if their name happened to appear on his list. Not when he had so many _options._ So many people that he would leave them for someday.

He still had sex. Plenty of it, if he wanted it. There were hookups with women who hadn't found their soulmate yet, ones who didn't mind a one-night stand with someone they knew wouldn't mean anything to them the next day. Guys were a lot less picky. So many of them already kept their soulmate's name hidden away permanently, some carefully tattooed over, others burned from their skin so they could pretend they'd never gotten one. But almost all of them asked for his name anyway. And the hope always died from their eyes when they realized he wasn't the one they were searching for.

 

-

 

Sometimes Wade traced his fingers over the names. The ones he could see, the ones he could reach. Memorizing them. Imagining who they were, what they looked like. 

He wondered which ones would have his name on their skin. If any of them would. He'd be happy with any of them. 

Even just one.

 

-

 

There were other people with multiple names on their skin.

They were harder to find. A lot of them covered up the two or three names, careful to keep it a secret. It was hard to explain, after all. Other people rarely understood things outside of their personal experiences.

Vanessa showed off the names as proudly as she showed off her skin in the strip club.

There was _Ben_ on her collarbone, and _Austin_ just under her ribs, and _Sara_ on her hip. He came back to see her, over and over again, until she smiled at the sight of him.

"Did you love them all?" Wade asked her while she danced for him. He liked the way the names moved when she did. Like they were all a part of her.

He expected her to be offended, or defensive, but she wasn't.  
"Yes. I did," she answered simply, with a warmth in her eyes that made something in him melt.

He wasn't allowed to touch her while she danced, but Vanessa carded her fingers through his hair, admiring the _James_ half-hidden by his temple, next to a scar that some hot asshole named Logan had given him years ago in the service. To remember him by, he'd said.

"Am I on your list?" she asked him with a smile that was all teeth.

"If you aren't, you should be."

 

-

 

Wade took her out on a date.

Then, later, he took her to bed. Undressed her slowly and kissed her skin as he went.

 _Ben_ on her collarbone. 

_Austin_ just under her ribs.

 _Sara_ on her hip.

When he saw the name on her inner thigh, he froze up.

"What's wrong?"

"That's my name," Wade said, brushing his fingers over it, and then his lips. "I've never seen my name on anyone's skin before. Ever."

"There are a lot of Wades," Vanessa warned him. "But I've never met one before," she added, her voice going breathy, hips hitching up as he continued kissing her between her thighs. "Ever. Until now. Do you think you might be mine?"

"I think I was considering having my name legally changed to _Sara_ ," Wade replied, and Vanessa laughed as he continued kissing her, until his tongue stole the air from her lungs, and her fingernails dug into his scalp when she came.

Wade laid his head down on her breast while she ran her fingers through his hair.

"Are you done already?" Vanessa asked him.

"Not gonna lie… Seeing my name like that got me a little premature," Wade said, and she giggled.

"I'm thinking I could have my name legally changed to _James,_ " she said.

"Why stop there?" Wade asked, pushing himself up and taking off his shirt so she could see the names scrawled across his neck, his chest, his arms. "You could be almost anyone. You could be… Steve... Nate... Tessa..."

"Ooh, Tessa's pretty close to mine," she said.

"You mean Nurse Veronica _isn't_ your real name?" Wade teased.

"Nope. When I'm off the stage, it's Vanessa. Nessa for short," she said, dragging her finger over the _Tessa_ on his stomach, unaware of the fact that he'd just stopped breathing. "You could get a tattoo. Change the T into a fancy little N…"

Wade caught her hand in his, holding it still.

"What did you say?" he asked.

She went still, the humor melting away to sincerity. "My real name is Vanessa."

Wade turned, guiding her hand across his skin until it rested on the side of his ribs. Her fingers found the letters there, her name imprinted into his flesh. _Vanessa._

"You _are_ my Wade," she said, her voice full of awe and her smile full of wonder.

Then she pushed him onto his back and rode him until he wept.

 

-

 

They were happy.

 

-

 

Then the cancer came. 

Spread through his entire body. 

Aggressive. 

Terminal.

 

-

 

Vanessa promised they'd get through this, that they'd find a cure. Together.

But Wade left to find it on his own. Or die. Alone.

She was his first name. The only one who'd loved him back.

He was her last.

He'd rather walk out of her life than make her go through that.

 

-

 

Then he found a cure.

But it came at a cost.

His skin was burned beyond recognition. The healing factor kept him alive, but all of the names marking him, all of those possibilities, all of those chances at someone loving him back, those were gone forever.

Only your skin could really tell you your destiny.

And just like his skin, the future was always changing, always in flux.

Always empty.

 

-

 

When they found each other again, Vanessa was furious with him.

He was afraid that she wouldn't want to touch him anymore.

Instead, she wouldn't let go.

"'Ness, I don't have your name anymore," Wade whispered into her hair.

"You're still _mine,_ dumbass."

"You have 'dumbass' written on your skin?"

"If it isn't, it should be."

Then she dragged him home where he belonged, and pushed him into bed, and kissed him until he wept.

"It's only skin, Wade," Vanessa told him, over and over again, until Wade almost felt like he could believe it. "Soulmates don't go away. They're part of you."

There were parts of him he wished he could get rid of. Scars. Tumors. Memories.

But not the names. Never those.

It felt like pieces of him had been lost.

He tried to remember where they all had been. Who they all had been. 

Vanessa helped him, writing on his mottled skin with a sharpie.

_Alicia. Sam. Chris. Bea. James. Theresa. Steve. Nate. Tessa. Peter._

And then, over his heart: _Vanessa_.

And on his neck, next to a mouth-shaped bruise that would fade before she'd even finished writing: _Vanessa._

And just to be cheeky, on his ass while he was sleeping: _Vanessa._

They never lasted long before his skin shifted again, the ink disappearing long before it had time to wear off. 

Sinking into him. Becoming part of him.

She wrote her name over and over again. Told him over and over again that it didn't matter how many times she had to claim him. She was his, and he was _hers._

Forever.

And he started to believe her.

 

-

 

After Vanessa died, Wade didn't believe in anything anymore.

She was his first, his only.

He was her last.

 

-

 

Sometimes Wade wondered what his life would've been like if he'd managed to scrub that second name off of his skin.

If he'd burned away the third, the fourth, the fifth.

If he'd covered the rest with tattoos, or scars.

What would've changed?

But he knew it'd probably be exactly the same as it was now, but a lot lonelier.

 

-

 

Life was hard to move on with.

But it wasn't hard to love again.

It was harder to stop.

Wade was untethered from his destiny. Nothing was certain anymore. No more possibilities. Which meant nothing really mattered anymore.

But Wade wasn't the only person who didn't have any names on their skin.

Colossus was one. Wade already liked him. He was big, and strong, and _kind_ , and Wade never saw any names etched into that flawless metal finish.

It took a long time for Wade to ask.

Not like he was expecting anything.

"What's your real name anyway, big guy?"

"It is Piotr," Colossus told him, in his thick Russian accent.

" _Peter?!_ "

"Piotr," he repeated, and spelled it for Wade. Then he regaled him with a long and bittersweet tale about the family that he had left behind in his homeland.

It was easy to just exist around the gentle Iron Giant. And Colossus didn't make a fuss about Wade touching him. Even when Wade lifted one of Colossus' arms and wrapped it around himself. And if Colossus noticed that Wade was tracing letters over the flawless planes of his metal skin instead of aimless patterns, he didn't call him out on it.

"You are very quiet. You have something on your mind, Wade?"

There was no point in denying it. "Do you think for some people, soulmates are actually a curse?"

"You mean names that appear on skin?" Colossus asked, and Wade nodded as he traced a heart over a shiny bicep. "We do not call these things 'soulmates.' They are your 'heartmates.'"

"Hm. English is a hard language, Piotr, but I can reassure you, that's the same thing," Wade said.

"No. Not same. Similar words, meaning different things," Colossus asserted. "In my homeland, it matters less what is or is not written on skin. They are written on your heart."

"Written… written on my heart?" Wade repeated, feeling breathless. His chest suddenly ached so strongly, he was grateful to have Colossus' embrace around him. "Do you think all the names I used to have are still written on my heart?"

Colossus nodded, fragments of light dancing across the walls with his movements. "Your skin only echoes what the heart desires."

"That's so deep," Wade exhaled, clinging to Colossus' metal arm. "I love you, Piotr."

Colossus squeezed back, gently. "I know you do, Wade."

His stomach felt a little fluttery, a little bit sick. "Do you think there's room for my name on your chrome heart?"

"I think love exists in many forms," Colossus answered. "But the love you feel for someone else is not always same love they feel for you."

Wade wasn't sure how an answer could be both so lovely and so hurtful to him. 

"That's a beautiful way to say no," he said, trying to slip out from Colossus' grasp before the tears came.

"It is not 'no,'" Colossus replied, physically picking Wade up before he could escape. He held him against his solid chest, like he weighed nothing at all. "Your name is very short, Wade. There is plenty of room for it on my heart, with the rest of my family."

For the first time in a long time, love didn't feel like a curse.

Even if there was no guarantee that anyone else would love him back in exactly the same way.

Even if they left scars. Or nothing but fleeting memories.

It didn't matter so much.

What mattered was that he felt like there was plenty of room on his heart.

 

-

 

When Wade went home, he found a pen and started writing all of the names he could still remember on the inside of his wrist.

_Vanessa. Bea. Peter. James. Nate. Tessa. Steve._

The list was getting shorter.

Memories were getting harder.

Wade still remembered his beautiful mother. He remembered that warm, sunny day that felt like a dream, with cookies baking in the oven and cartoon birds singing outside the window. 

But other times he remembered something different. Something he didn't want to remember. Like how his house never felt _warm,_ and the only scent he could actually remember was stale cigarettes and alcohol. When he saw his father's name on the back of his mother's neck, it looked like a bruise bleeding into her skin. And she'd warned him, "When you're old enough, you'll get a name, too. That name will be somebody you love. Forever."

 

-

 

The funny thing about love was that even when you stopped looking for it, it could still find you.

The middle of a high-stakes mission trying to save a boy's life from a time-traveling super soldier was hardly the time nor place for romance. But who could deny destiny?

Destiny walked into his life wearing a plaid shirt and a pair of khakis.

"My name's Peter," he said, and Wade _knew._

Love was real. And maybe he hadn't pictured his soulmate with a beard and a mustache, but Peter was perfect anyway, like the soul of a unicorn had accidentally reincarnated into a middle aged man.

"I won't let anything happen to you, Sugarbear," Wade promised him in the X-Force helicopter.

It wasn't a promise he could keep.

Their love was like a bolt of lightning. Unexpected, intensely beautiful, and yet so short lived.

Peter hadn't even had enough time to tell Wade how he felt. But Wade never needed to hear it. He already knew, deep down inside.

If he could turn back time, he would do anything in his power to make sure his Sugarbear survived, even if it meant giving him up. But destiny was cruel. The only thing Wade had left of him was his photo and the memory of those fleeting moments they were allowed to spend together.

But he would cherish that.

Some people never even got to meet their soulmates.

 

-

 

Peter's sacrifice wasn't in vain.

Wade saved the kid, by stopping Cable's bullet with his heart.

And by sacrificing his heart, literally, he saved the kid's heart from turning cold. Figuratively. 

And by saving the kid's heart, figuratively, he saved the lives of Cable's wife and daughter in the future. Literally.

And he saved Cable's heart too. Figuratively. 

And then Cable went back in time and saved Wade's heart. Literally.

Even if that meant Cable no longer had the ability go back to his own time. To the people he loved, who loved him back.

"You did it for me," Wade said, and it didn't matter how Cable denied it, because he knew. There were only a few people he'd go back in time to save.

 

-

 

Cable had said he intended on sticking around, but Wade didn't expect to see him so soon, or to run into him at the local watering hole.

"I'll buy you a drink," he offered, and Wade couldn't really feel any effects of alcohol unless he was trying really hard to get hammered, but he accepted the offer anyway, if only for the chance to have some company.

"Sorry you can't get back to your little girl yet," Wade said. "Or your wife. She was your soulmate, right?"

"No," Cable said, to Wade's surprise. "At least, not in the way you all think about soulmates. That mutation died out decades ago."

"Oh." Wade stared into his drink. "Do you… Isn't that harder? Not knowing for sure?"

"Soulmates aren't real," Cable replied. "The idea that there's one perfect person out there for you, and that you're going to be the perfect person for them? It's a fairy tale, Wade. Nobody's born perfect for each other. People change."

Wade took in a deep breath, slowly rolling his glass between his palms. "I always thought it was kind of reassuring. To know where to look. To know that you had a good chance someone would love you back. Believe it or not, I used to be covered in names, head to toe. Literally. Guess I needed all the chances I could get. But that still wasn't enough."

Cable gave Wade a once-over. "I never got any names on my skin. I got this techno-organic cancer eating away at my body," he said, flexing the fingers on his metal arm. "So I guess I never had a chance, huh?"

Wade stopped fiddling with his drink. "Of course you have a chance. Good looking, strong, stubborn bastard with a heart of gold? Anybody would love a guy like you."

"Not anybody," Cable shook his head. "You can't just expect love to walk into your life fully formed. You have to seize it. You have to be willing to work hard at it. And sometimes you have to know when to let go."

"That's hard to do," Wade said. He couldn't understand how anyone could let go of love. He'd never been able to. "I loved Nessa. I loved -- I love a lot of people. I can't stop loving. It's like I'm bleeding to death all the time. And I know what that feels like. I don't know how I'll have enough left for anyone to love me back."

"It's not a limited resource, dumbass," Cable said, in an oddly fond tone of voice. "You can have someone that you love deeply, truly, and love someone else just as much. Doesn't make either of them any less real."

"No," Wade agreed, folding his arms on the bar and burying his face against them. "Doesn't make it hurt any less, either."

"No, it doesn't," Cable agreed. "But when someone loves you back, it makes all the hurting worth it."

"And when nobody does? I've already lost two soulmates. And despite all the names I started with, I can't remember half of them anymore," Wade said.

"I already told you. Soulmates aren't real. Family's real. You got that kid you saved, Russell. You got your two dumbass friends. You got Piotr. You got Yukio and Ellie. You got Neena. And you got me."

Wade lifted his head in confusion. "Who the fuck are Neena and Ellie?"

"Domino and your moody teenage sidekick," Cable clarified.

Wade was even more bewildered. "What? Why do you know their real names?"

Cable glared. "Because I _asked_ them. People do that in the future. It's not forward, it's just polite."

Wade squinted at him, trying to imagine a world where just straight up _asking_ people their names wasn't akin to a marriage proposal. "I don't believe you."

"I don't care what you believe, Wade. Just as long as you stop believing you're not worthy of being loved unless someone's got your name on their skin. You're going to be miserable for most of your unnaturally long life if you keep that up."

That gave Wade something to think about. 

His whole life, love felt like a river that only ever flowed in one direction. Like he was broken, and he couldn't stop the love from spilling out. Couldn't ever keep it inside. Vanessa was the sole exception, the only person who'd tried to pour love back into him, and she was gone.

He thought about his mother, who never stopped waiting for his father to come back. If she'd been able to let go, to realize that if his father had been able to walk away so easily, she was allowed to do the same, would she have been happier?

Love wasn't luck. You had to seize it. You had to be willing to work at it.

"Nessa told me soulmates never go away. They're a part of you," Wade said, staring at his hands, his wrists, the spaces on his skin where'd he'd written the names so many times, it felt like his blood should bleed black ink. "Colossus said soulmates are written on your heart. People change. And people change you. I'm not the same person I was before I met Nessa. Or Piotr. Or even you. Maybe soulmates are really people who were meant to change your life."

"Maybe," Cable agreed, smiling sadly to himself. 

He finished his drink in silence and then wordlessly took something off of his wrist and pushed it into Wade's hand.

"What is this?" Wade asked, coming out of his thoughts and closing his fingers around the round metal object on instinct. He recognized it. "Your time device?"

Cable pulled his hand free from Wade's. "It's broken," he said. "But I want you to have it, anyway. Maybe you can figure out how to fix it."

Wade stared at him in surprise and then looked at the watch-like face of the device. "Your real name is Carl F. Bucherer?"

"That's the brand name, dumbass," Cable laughed, a stupidly handsome grin splitting his face, all teeth. "If you want to know my name, you only have to ask."

It wasn't forward. It was only polite, Wade reminded himself. And after all this time, he really wanted to know.

"What _is_ your name?"

Cable's expression softened. "It's Nate."

"Nate," Wade repeated, feeling dizzy. He could remember that one.

 _Nate,_ written on his chest. Left side, second rib from the bottom. Four little letters that shifted with him every time he took a breath. So close to _Vanessa._

He already knew Nate wouldn't have his name on his skin. But it didn't really matter, did it? So many of his soulmates never did.

It didn't mean he wasn't worthy.

Wade tightened his fingers around the time device and wondered if Nate was right. If soulmates were people who were meant to change your life. If love didn't have to be a curse. If all the hurt was worth it for someone who could fill your heart back up. If there was enough left of his heart to hold anything inside.

He didn't have any answers.

He didn't have any control over if anyone loved him back.

All he could do was try. 

And he really didn't want to give up yet.

"Can I buy you another drink?"

Nate smiled, and there was a warmth in his eyes that made Wade feel something he hadn't in a long time.

"Sure."

 

x


End file.
